Staring at the mansion suspended in midair, Evan Yang picked up Derek, with Nina Ye following alongside. The three of them flew toward the estate.
They quickly arrived outside the estate. Around it were several mountain ranges. Judging by the mountains and the estate, Evan guessed the estate was built atop a massive boulder that had always been here, and that these mountains originally belonged to the range itself.
Behind the estate, there were mountains, and on those mountains, he could see ordinary mortals hammering away.
"Derek, your parents used to work as miners on these mountains?" Evan asked suspiciously.
"Yeah." Staring at those mountains, Derek felt a vague sense as if he were seeing his departed loved ones again.
"Don’t worry, little master here will definitely help you teach those people a lesson." Nina Ye comforted Derek after hearing this.
Just then, a group rushed out from the family’s gate, among them was the thug who’d been seriously injured by Nina Ye earlier.
The thug pointed at Nina Ye and said to the squad leader, "It’s her! She’s the one who injured me."
The squad leader looked at Nina Ye, then at Evan Yang and Derek, and snorted coldly, "Who are you, and why did you injure our Swain Family member?"
"Swain Family? I hit you guys precisely because you bully others too much!" Nina Ye retorted fearlessly, snorting right back.
The group grew furious and couldn’t help but start a fight. But their strongest was only at Spirit-Wandering Realm, no match for Nina Ye, so Evan Yang and Derek just stood aside and watched.
Boom, boom—several bodies were sent flying. Nina Ye sneered, "Is that all you’ve got?"
"Y-You, don’t leave!" The squad leader hadn’t expected Nina Ye to be so strong and immediately retreated with the others back to the family estate.
Meanwhile, Evan Yang had already spread his divine sense, probing the Swain Family’s true strength.
A steward soon stormed out with more people, surrounding Evan, Nina Ye, and Derek. The steward pressed them, "Who are you, and why did you injure our family’s people?"
This steward was fairly calm—not rushing to violence, but asking for the reason first.
Nina Ye pointed at Derek, "You should recognize this kid, right?"
The steward and his people glanced at the boy, clearly surprised. Of course they knew him—they’d repeatedly sent people to torment him—but hadn’t expected he’d bring helpers.
"Nothing to say, huh? You people are truly vicious—not even sparing a child." Nina Ye snorted coldly when she saw them exchanging glances.
The steward finally couldn’t help but say, "There may be some misunderstanding here." Then he called the thug over.
"Did you bully him?" The steward pretended to be fierce as he questioned the thug.
The thug froze for a moment, then reluctantly replied, "Yeah."
"See? He admits it’s his own business, nothing to do with our Swain Family, so you don’t need to make trouble here." The steward pushed all the blame onto him.
Would Nina Ye accept that? Of course not. Evan Yang thought for a moment and smiled, "If that’s the case, we’ll take him. You don’t mind, do you?" He pointed at the thug, inwardly sneering, "Since you’re dumping the blame on him, I’ll get the truth out of his mouth."
The steward hesitated, while the thug quickly looked at him and pleaded, "Steward, please don’t hand me over to them."
The steward glanced at the thug and sent him a voice transmission: "That woman isn’t simple. If you can withstand her interrogation, I’ll arrange a comfortable life for you elsewhere, so you won’t have to stay in this position. If you fail, not only will you die, your family will die too!"
The thug hadn’t expected the steward to threaten him like this, but knowing the Swain Family’s power, he decided to agree. Dragging his wounded body, he told Evan Yang and the others, "I’ll take responsibility for my actions."
"Alright, let’s go." Evan Yang smiled, then took the thug along. The thug followed Evan and Nina Ye, looking depressed.
"Find a chance to escape—I’ll help you settle things." The steward sent another voice transmission to the thug as he walked.
The thug received the steward’s message and was overjoyed. When Evan Yang and Nina Ye weren’t paying attention, he took the opportunity to slip away.
But could he really escape? Not a chance. Evan Yang and Derek led the way, the thug in the middle, and Nina Ye at the rear. The group flew back into the city.
Back at Derek’s shack, Nina Ye tossed the thug aside and snorted, "You’re truly despicable—not even sparing a child."
"I..." The thug wanted to speak but immediately swallowed his words.
"Speak up—who ordered you, and why target a child? Is there something else you’re hiding from us?" Evan Yang knew Derek owned nothing and the thug never demanded anything, so he wanted to get to the real reason.
"No, no one ordered me. I acted alone." The thug hurried to take all the blame himself.
Nina Ye was reminded by Evan Yang’s reasoning and began to suspect the thug was hiding something. She snorted, "You won’t talk? Then you’d better watch your life."
"You can’t kill me!" The thug panicked when he heard his life was on the line.
"You can bully a kid, but we can’t kill you? That’s pretty arrogant, huh." Nina Ye snorted coldly.
"I just thought he was easy to bully, so I bullied him." The thug said gloomily.
Nina Ye was about to speak, but Evan Yang cut in first: "Easy to bully? That’s your whole reason? We don’t buy it. Speak up, or soon you’ll learn what 'worse than death' really means."
"Y-You, what are you trying to do?" The thug was frightened by Evan Yang’s tone.
"Speak or don’t speak—your choice." Evan Yang smiled.
"I’ve already said everything I should." The thug replied gloomily.
"If that’s so, then enjoy it slowly." With that, Evan Yang sealed him, leaving only his ability to speak.
(Irrelevant system message skipped.)
Finding his whole body immobile and unable to use any spiritual power, the thug panicked. He’d never seen such a technique, and facing an unknown method was the scariest thing.
Nina Ye was curious too, seeing the thug unable to move—wondering what technique Evan Yang had used.
Evan Yang continued smiling, "Three days. Day one—you can’t move at all. Day two—your whole body will ache. Day three—your flesh will start to rot."
The thug was terrified when he heard this. Sure enough, on day one, he couldn’t move at all. His face kept changing as he said, "It’s not that I don’t want to talk—I really can’t."
"Oh? So there really is something hidden?" Evan Yang smiled.
Nina Ye was delighted and pressured him, "Speak or don’t speak!"
"I can’t—I’ll die, and so will my whole family if I say anything!" The thug cried out. He didn’t want to die, but now faced death from both sides, leaving him utterly frustrated.
Evan Yang and Nina Ye exchanged glances. Evan asked, "Is it the Swain Family threatening you?"
"Yes, they told me not to speak, or else they’d kill my family." the thug replied timidly.
"Now you can choose to talk, and we’ll help save your family. Or you can keep quiet and die slowly." Evan Yang knew the only way to make the thug talk was to promise his family’s safety.
"You guys? Can you really do it? The Swain Family is powerful." The thug found a glimmer of hope, but seeing there were only two of them against a whole clan, he became discouraged.
"Don’t worry, we’ll protect you and your family. But if you don’t talk, it’s your choice." Evan Yang assured him.
The thug weighed his options. Better to delay and gamble for luck than die now, so he said, "Alright, I’ll tell you."
The thug then explained the whole situation.
The reason for targeting the boy, teaching him a lesson but not killing him, boiled down to two things: first, Derek’s parents discovered something they shouldn’t have, leading to their deaths. Second, Derek may have seen something he shouldn’t, but they weren’t sure, so the thug kept trying to interrogate him. Derek refused to talk, so all he got was punishment.
They could have killed the boy for refusing to talk, but the main reason they didn’t was the second one—not knowing why, the higher-ups ordered not to kill him, saying to keep observing for a while.
"Observe? Is there something about Derek that attracts the Swain Family?" Evan Yang wondered aloud.
"I don’t know—you’d have to ask the steward. This is all I know, and it took me several tries to find out." The thug shook his head.
The thug’s words made Nina Ye and Evan Yang suspicious. Derek himself had no idea—he was just an ordinary person, nothing special. Why was the Swain Family so interested in him?
Evan Yang decided to investigate the Swain Family himself. To ensure the thug’s safety, he said, "Don’t worry—what you told us, they won’t find out."
Then Evan Yang turned to Nina Ye, "Stay here. I’ll go see why the Swain Family is so focused on Derek."
"Be careful." Nina Ye knew Evan Yang’s cultivation was higher than hers, so he was the best choice.
The thug, hearing Evan Yang was about to leave, worried he’d get into trouble and quickly asked, "If something happens to you, who’ll give me the antidote?"
"You’ll be fine. No antidote needed—only I can lift the seal." Evan Yang smiled, then left the rundown shack.
He checked that the shack was surrounded by his soundproofing array—no outsiders could hear anything—before leaving.
But before leaving, Evan Yang’s divine sense detected several hidden spies in the area.
"So many informants—better deal with them first." Evan Yang sneered inwardly upon seeing the spies.
He slowly slipped out of their line of sight. Once Evan Yang left, the spies focused their attention back on the shack, trying to see what they could discover.
In the end, all six informants hidden in six corners were knocked unconscious by Evan Yang, sealed, and tossed somewhere no one would pass by.